Cellulosic biomass is a significant renewable resource for the generation of fermentable sugars. These sugars can be used as substrates for fermentation and other metabolic processes to produce biofuels, chemical compounds and other commercially valuable end-products.
The conversion of cellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars may begin with chemical, mechanical, enzymatic or other pretreatments to increase the susceptibility of cellulose to hydrolysis. Such pretreatment may be followed by the enzymatic conversion of cellulose to cellobiose, cello-oligosaccharides, glucose, and other sugars and sugar polymers, using enzymes that break down cellulose. These enzymes are collectively referred to as “cellulases” and include endoglucanases, beta-glucosidases and cellobiohydrolases.